60th Congress, | SENATE. j Document 

1st Session. ) \ No. 521. 



MEMORIAL OF STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE, 
CONCERNING INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM. 



Mr. Owen presented the following 

MEMORIAL CONCERNING THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM, 
SUBMITTED BY THE STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 



May 26, 1908.— Ordered to be printed. 



MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS CONCERNING THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM. 



Mat 25, 1908. 
To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: 

At the request of the senior Senator from Maine (Mr. Hale) your 
honorable body has printed as a public document the speech of Hon. 
H. C. Lodge before the Central Labor Union of Boston, in which he 
opposes the establishment of a State-wide system whereby the voters 
shall possess an option to ballot directly on public questions, the will 
of the majority to be an instruction to their representatives. The 
undersigned, the State Referendum League of Maine, memorializes 
you to receive and publish the following argument for the other side. 
The Maine legislature has submitted to the people a constitutional 
amendment for the initiative and referendum to be voted upon this 
fall, and it is only fair that j^ou accord equal rights to both sides. 

Respectfull}^ submitted. 

State Referendum League of Maine, 
By Kingsbury B. Piper, Secretary. 



THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IN MAINE. 

To advocate the adoption of direct legislation it is not necessary for 
one to assail American institutions or to declare that a departure has 
been made from the intentions and purposes of the fathers. 

The Stars and Stripes float over the land of the free and the home 
of the brave just as trulj^ to-daj^ as when the poet expressed that senti- 
ment so beautifully while detained on board a hostile fleet. Every- 
thing that has been said in laudation of our institutions, in apprecia- 
tion of our national growth, in praise of the numerous brave deeds of 
our heroes is all true. 

The experiment of founding a republic in the New World was beset 
with dangers from within and without. The men of those times were 



%-%^HU 



2 STATE REFEKENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 

wise, patriotic, but prudent, and they sought to adhere to conserva- 
tism rather than to go to a dangerous extreme in the task before them. 
Even though they looked forward with optimism, yet they could not 
even imagine what the structure they had reared would, a hundred 
years later, become. Then there were only about three millions of 
people scattered along the Atlantic seaboard without a dream of 
monopolistic control of foodstuiis and without means of travel or 
communication to and from other localities, except by the most prim- 
itive methods. The provisions made at the time of building the 
foundations of this governmental structure were amply sufficient for 
the times. As time has gone on to more than the century mark, 
changes have come and we, as a people, have become numerous and great 
in power. Changes for the public good have been manj" and there have 
been many alterations in the structure of an extremel_y doubtful nature. 
The granting of franchises for the use and aggrandizement of corpora- 
tions, the greedy and lawless manner in which the public domain has 
been obtained, the immoral and secretive, but etl'ective, influence to 
secure unjust legislation are a few of the larger evils which are attract- 
ing the attention of a free people, and the effort of the times is in the 
direction of an eradication of these serious defects in the body politic. 
The purpose of the initiative and referendum is to afford a means by 
which the power to supervise legislation directly may be forcefully 
placed in the hands of the people. 

At the next State election in September the voters oi Maine will 
determine whether the power to initiate statute laws by petition shall 
be put into their hands; the}" will also decide whether they shall have 
the right to pass upon such legislation, enacted by the legislature, as 
they may indicate by petition. This proposed amendment to the State 
constitution is not revolutionary but is reformatory, and the strongest 
term that can justly be applied to it is the term, innovation. 

The right oj" the people to petition has never been doubted, much less 
denied. 

The feature of petitions, then, is not even an innovation. Kny man 
or body of men may now petition for the passage of any law or num- 
ber of laws which thej^ may desire. That feature of the referendum 
which calls for the reference of legislation to the people is not an inno- 
vation, for the legislature has so referred matters in the past. The 
restriction and regulation of petitioners to actual voters, although 
somewhat different from past practices, must be regarded as in the 
interests of good government. 

What are the innovation features of the initiative and referendum as 
proposed^ 

Under the present system of lawmaking the people can have only 
such legislation as their chosen representatives enact. The electors 
ma}^ object to consummated legislation, but when once upon the 
statute books laws are in full effect and must continue in effect until 
repealed by the same powers or similar powers as enacted such 
objectionable statutes. Under the referendum all statute legislation 
would be in abeyance for ninety days after the legislature has 
adjourned (emergency bills excepted), during which time the objectors 
would have an opportunity to secure, at their own expense, the signa- 
tures of not less than 10,000 voters upon petitions for the objected 
legislation to go to the people for a ballot. If the necessary number 
of signatures should be obtained then such reference to the voters 



J 90^ 
3i iid . 



CO 

J^^ STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OB' MAINE. 3 

o 

^ must be made and the fate of the submitted measures be decided 
(^ according to the majority vote expressed b}^ the ballot. Under the 
^ initiative, whenever 10,000 voters petition for the passage of a law, 
the bill and the petitions go to the legislature, where they must be 
considered, and if such initiated bills are not passed they must be 
referred to the people for action at the polls. The innovation then of 
the initiative and referendum is this, the final power to pass upon 
statute legislation will be lodged with the people instead of with the 
legislature, as at present. 

Is the inmauve and referendum, needed? . 

If our State legislatures enact only beneficial laws and reject only 
unwise measures, our present system is perfect and there is no call for 
anything in the shape of reformatory innovations. If, on the other 
hand, some of the legislation enacted is unwise or some of the defeated 
legislation is needed, then there certainly is need of something 
remedial. If, furthermore, the action of our State legislature is in 
doubt as to its measure of justice, then there should be some means 
provided by which the doubt can be cleared away. 

What is our ■present system of lawmaking? 

Bills are introduced and at once referred to the proper committees. 
Public hearings are assigned and advertised, the measures being 
described only by titles. Not much information can be obtained from 
the title of a bill. On account of the mass of legislation introduced, it 
is impossible for the public press to enter into details except as to the 
most important measures. It is a physical impossibility for even 
members of the legislature to read, to say nothing of understanding, 
the torrent of public and private bills and resolves which pour into the 
house and senate and, at that, each member is provided with a printed 
copy of each measure. How, then, can our citizens at their homes 
become informed upon the proposed laws in which all should be inter- 
ested? If, by chance, private citizens do learn of dangerous proposed 
legislation, they have the blessed and expensive opportunity to spend 
their own time and money in a trip to the statehouse to appear before 
the committee at the advertised hour and present an argument against 
the law's passage or to hire a lawyer to appear for them. Represent- 
atives are busy much of the time' in their respective committee rooms 
listening to those interested in the legislation under consideration, and 
there is where the lawyers get in their work again and the proponent 
has generally secured the pleading of one or more of the most talented 
of the army of which professional gentlemen, who stick closely to the 
statehouse and work for the best paying clients during legislative 
terms. 

In the face of these odds the members of the committees make up 
their reports, and our chosen representatives are only men of average 
ability. They are to report "ought to pass," "ought not to pass," 
"ought to pass in new draft," or "referred to the next legislature." 
Mau}^ influences are brought to bear upon them in and out of the com- 
mittee rooms. They are called bully good fellows, are given to under- 
stand men of influence in politics and of prominence in party have 
decided views, and that action in compliance with those views will be 
appreciated in the future. They are promised support upon legisla- 
tion which they may or may not desire if in return they will recipro- 
cate. The committee room is well known as the legislative burial 
ground. The strangling operation is often practiced and the innocents 



4 STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 

are frequently interred with scant ceremony in company with legisla- 
tive monstrosities. As a general rule the committee reports are 
adopted and the favored measures are advanced to their several read- 
ings and to enactment. It is true that there are exceptions and that 
committee reports are rejected, but the exceptions are few. It is true 
that committees are sometimes divided in their reports, and then such 
matters are thrashed out in argument and settled by an actual vote. 
It is true that a few matters like an appropriation bill for the support 
of the State university, the removal of the State capital, resubmission, 
or the repeal of the Sturgis law will afford sufficient agitation as to 
overthrow all other matters and bring out so nmch venom and sectional 
bitterness as to defeat much worthy proposed legislation. Trading 
and dickering is a common pastime among legislators, chosen to rep- 
resent the people and to advocate only those measures which are for 
the public good. The man who will not trade and dicker becomes a 
marked individual, and he may rest assured that measures bearing his 
authorship will receive prompt and effective execution by lobbyists 
and legislators as well. Practices which are worse than simply trading 
and dickering support upon legislation have often taken place, prac- 
tices by which poor men, charged with the sacred responsibility of a 
representative, have been made rich and yet escaped punishment. 

Committee reports usually come into the house or senate in batches 
and toward the last of the term. These reports are read very rapidly, 
acted upon with the same rapidity, and, with very rare exceptions, 
those measures the bearing death mark, " ought not to pass," sink into 
oblivion. Sometimes a member whose courage is good attempts to 
substitute the bill for the adverse report and fights the action of the 
committee on the floor. Very rarely does he succeed in advancing his 
cause so far as to hear it declared to be finally enacted. Favorable 
committee reports are ratified with few exceptions. The exceptions, 
however, are so vigorously debated that public attention is attracted 
to them to that extent that the public mind becomes impressed that 
representative government as it exists is a very efiicient arrangement. 
Measures passed by the legislature go to the governor, who is given 
the power to veto. This power, in Maine, is so seldom exercised that 
it stamps the chief executive as being more of a dependent subordinate 
than an actual superior power. Actuall3^ however, the infrequency 
of the governor's veto is a proof that he is always a part of the machine 
which dominates legislation, but it must be borne in mind that the 
governor is apparently identified only with those laws which go up 
to him. The defeated laws, whose short epitaphs are inscribed by a 
few men in the committee room or even in the full house and senate, 
never get into the executive office. The governor, on the face of the 
returns, has nothing whatever to do with the defeat of bills and resolves 
which are killed in the committee room or on the floor of the house or 
senate. Since the power of veto is rarely used by the governor against 
enacted legislation, the situation is reduced to about the figure naught, 
as far as reckoning the power of veto as an asset of representative 
government is concerned. 

What is the source of legislation? 

All legislation originates from the people. Every resolution and 
bill introduced has behind it some power which should be no greater 
than is merited on the grounds that the proposed legislation is benefi- 
cial and for the common good. Every vote gained for a measure 



STATE REFEEENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 5 

should be won for the reason that the measure itself possesses virtue. 
Every vote registered against a proposed law should have behind it 
the logical reason that the legislation is either vicious or unwise. The 
individual force behind every bill or resolve is the power working for 
its passage, and he rallies to his aid as much assistance as he can get, 
either by direct contact or through the agency of others. If a measure 
is in the interests of a corporation, its success is looked after by highly 
efficient attorneys, who know all the devious ways of accomplishing 
their purpose in the lobb}^ and in the committee rooms. Political 
influences are invoked, political rewards are promised, and political 
threats are made, as the case may require. The individual force 
which asks for legislation for the only reason that it is meritorious, 
under the present system of lawmaking stands a very unequal show, 
whereas, according to the theory of the forefathers, the individual 
force of merit should be the predominating beauty of our representa- 
tive government. That man who dreams that merit is the chief thing 
necessary to accomplish needed legislation is sure to suffer an awakening 
if he ever becomes involved in the legislative mill when the machinery 
is controlled by the modern political representative system. His 
wounds will be many and painful. He will suffer defeat unless he 
adapts himself to the ordinary trading method, which is the force of 
all forces, and which has reduced the individual merit of proposed 
legislation to the vanishing point. Meritorious proposed legislation 
defeated in committee, in the lobby, or on the floor of the House or 
Senate can not be resurrected under the representative plan as it now 
exists. Bad legislation which is traded through to the governor's 
chair, pushed along by the lobby and by support coerced by political 
threats, the people must take and abide by. Under what we term 
representative government, as at present constituted, there is no appeal. 
Needed legislation, then, is often defeated, and unwise legislation is 
often accomplished. Something in the line of a remedy is needed. 

The initiative and referenditm is the remedy. 

This innovation will give to the people the power to Anally decide 
all statute legislation on an appeal from the action of the legislature 
and the governor's approval, but upon certain restricted conditions to 
give force and effect to the right of petition. 

Are the people competent to so Anally decide .>tatute legislation? 
The people, acting after calm deliberation, have never made a mistake, 
and they have been called upon to settle the momentous questions 
which have made the world's histor3^ The people of Maine are intel- 
ligent, and if any apathy exists upon matters of legislation, such 
apathy is the result of their helplessness under the present lobbied and 
boss-ridden condition of what is curiously dubbed a representative 
system of government. Clearer and clearer has it become evident 
that there is no way to appeal from the action of the legislature, to 
which the electors still hold title, but the ownership, control, and pos- 
session of which are lodged somewhere else. 

Under the initiative and referendum, who will take the trouble and 
bear the expense of securing the necessary 10,000 or 12,000 petitions? 

The force which stands behind defeated meritorious measures will 
look after the initiative petitions. The force which stands in opposi- 
tion to unwise but accomplished legislation will look after the petitions 
for a referendum. Under the initiative and referendum the individ- 
ual force which has, as a support, the argument of merit, becomes a 



6 STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 

master in legislation instead of being compelled to sacrilice merit and 
accept dicker and graft to reach a desired end. 

The petitions, secured., will the people vote upon measures? 

Not all the people will vote upon measures, but the best people will 
exercise the right. The element sometimes referred to as "the mob" 
is at the polls for the purpose of gain, and its patriotism is purel}^ 
political, enhanced by a close canvass for an election to office by polit- 
ical candidates. "'The mob" does not study measures and does not 
vote upon them, but is always enthusiastic as to which candidate shall 
be the next sheriff. As a part of the machinery to make the initiative 
and referendum simplified and effective, every measure going to the 
people will be printed, together with the others, in pamphlet form, and 
a copy of such pamphlet will be placed in the hands of every voter. 
This literature will be an educative force; for, besides the referred 
measures, the pamphlet will contain arguments for and against each 
submitted measure. This will place before each voter not only the 
measures referred to him, but a discussion of those measures for him 
to weigh and consider before casting his vote. Is it not apparent that 
such an innovation will exert a far-reaching moral influence and decrease 
the apathy existing at the present time under the present S3^stem? 
WJiO demands the initiative and referendum f 

Those who understand the evils of the representative system as it is 
now arranged and desire to abolish those evils without abolishing the 
system itself. All power is inherent in the people. Upon this decla- 
ration has been built every State constitution in the Union. To give 
to the people the final power to decide legislation, the source of which 
is the people, is no departure from the first principle of popular gov- 
ernment; but to bring about such an innovation in so simple a manner 
is to return to the belief of those who said to the world, "To secure 
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
just powers from the consent of the governed." 
Will the people decide measures toiselyf 

From an individual view point, the answer to that question depends 
largely upon whether the person interrogated finds himself voting 
with the majority. Most Democrats believe that an election has been 
decided unwisely when Republican candidates are elected to office. 
Democrats, however, believe that the will of the majority should pre- 
vail. Those voters in the minority upon measures might believe the 
majority to be in the wrong, and later events might confirm the truth of 
such a contention. If, however, the people should make a mistake 
under the initiative and referendum, the}^ would have the power to 
correct it. The mistakes made under our present system are out of 
reach of the people. Even the oft-repeated theory of defeating an 
erring representative falls flat in practice. Nearly all members of 
the house of representatives are chosen from classes of towns which 
nominate by rotation. Only a small number of the members of the 
lower house, for this reason, are ever renominated, and if not renomi- 
nated there is no opportunity to make an effort to punish b}^ defeat- 
ing recalcitrant members at the polls. 

What will he the effect of the initiative and referendum, upon pro- 
posed legislationf 

One effect will be to reduce the volume of proposed legislation and to 
improve its quality. The people are now only lookers on, and what 



STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 7 

they see is not very interesting, but under the initiative and refer- 
endum the force behind meritorious but defeated legislation will 
have the right of appeal to the people upon petition, and the will of 
the people will be final, while those who stand in opposition to accom- 
plished legislation of doubted wisdom will hold the power to appeal to 
the people for the exercise of a popular veto. 

' Will the initiative and referendum tend to destroy the independence 
of leg islatorsf 

In the first place a legislator is often a most dependent office seeker, 
and independence does not enter very largeh^ into his character. He 
must have the support of others in order to accomplish anything at 
all. The political boss must be considered, the wishes of the presid- 
ing officer must be respected, when the par t}^ whip cracks the legislator 
must jump. Under the initiative and referendum the dependence of 
the legislator will be shifted from those factors to a greater dependence 
upon the wishes of his constituenc3^ Instead of diminishing independ- 
ence the initiative and referendum will cut loose the collar which nearly 
every legislator must suffer himself to wear now, and free him from 
the manj^ entangling alliances in which he finds himself. The initia- 
tive and referendum will add to the character of legislators in many 
ways. If they had the innovation in Connecticut the blind boss in the 
sheriff's office would be without a vocation at the statehouse. When 
we have this innovation in Maine there will be no need of such a speech 
as Representative McKenney made when he said, on March 26, 1907, 
from the floor of the house of representatives: 

When this legislature first opened I introduced three bills, one which made it 
necessar}' for the towns and cities to have swinging doors in front of their voting 
booths in order to have a secret ballot; another bill was a copy largely of the Massa- 
chusetts law with regard to balloting; another was with regard to the purity of 
elections. The reason why these bills were introduced was because I believed the 
people demanded a different ballot from the one we have. There is hardly a news- 
paper in Maine that has not advocated the adoption of the Massachusetts ballot. 

These bills were referred to the judiciary committee, numbered 2, 4, and 5. It 
required a good deal of time and research to prepare those bills. A hearing was 
ordered on the bills. I went before the committee. A Republican from Portland 
asked permission to go before the committee and assist me at the hearing, and he 
did so. A gentleman sitting here, a Republican, also requested that he might be per- 
mitted to assist me in presenting those bills. There was no opposition to them. 
After the hearing several members of the committee, both Democrat and Republi- 
can, spoke to me favorably in regard to those bills. I ask them that I might have 
notice if they proposed to report adversely upon the bills, in order that I might have 
an opportunity to discus? them in this house. ■ I constantly inquired of the members 
of the committee, not only of my own party but those of the other party, when they 
would be ready to report. They informed me that they had been referred to a sub- 
committee of three, and I had positive assurance from a member of the committee 
that when action was taken I should know it. After ten weeks of this session had 
gone by, one Friday night, when the Democratic member of the subcommittee was 
absent, the other two members of the subcommittee reported against the adoption of 
all those bills. On Saturday morning, when only 30 members were present, they 
came in here and the reports of that committee were adopted, went to the senate 
and were adopted, before we had any opportunity to know what action had been 
taken h\ the committee. I say those bills were important enough to have had a 
hearing before this house. I say that the people of the State of Maine, regardless 
of party, desire a different ballot from what M-e have. Thousands of votes are thrown 
away at every election because they are spoiled; thousands are never counted because 
they are defective. At the first of the session thei'e was a contest in the senate, and 
they seated the Republican senator on a certain construction of the ballot law^ in 
this house the}' reversed the action of the senate, because by reversing of the decision 
in the senate they seated the Republican member in this house; and we all know 



8 STATE REFERENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 

that this has been the case since this ballot has been in existence, and that every 
committee has made rulings of their own, and that ruling has always been in favor of 
the majority. 

I have very good evidence, I think, that the reason why these bills were kept so 
long in the hands of the committee, and why they were passed on Friday night 
when the Democratic member of the subcommittee was absent, and why they came 
into this house Saturday morning when 0]ily 30 members were present. It was 
because certain bosses of political parties in this State had issued their dictum that 
there should be no ballot laws passed at this session. I do not deny the committee 
the right to obey the dictates of those who rule in the State of Maine, but I stand 
here to say that the time will come in the State of Maine when the people will be 
heard and when the bosses of no political party will come to this house and dictate 
what legislation shall come before it or what legislation shall be passed by it. The 
people are getting pretty sore in regard to these matters. I felt that it was my duty 
to stand here before the adjournment of this legislature and let the members of this 
house, and not only the members of this house, but the voters of the State of Maine, 
understand that it is impossible for the minority party to come here with any law 
without its being made a political football and being kicked out of the house regard- 
less of the will of the majority of the people. 

Under the "big- stick" of the initiative and referendum there would 
be no need for the deliver^y of an}^ such sentiment as Senator Haselton, 
of Gardiner, uttered in a speech on the floor of the senate March 28, 
1907, when, in speaking on the motion to reconsider the action of the 
senate whereb}^ the bill entitled an act relating to the State liquor 
agenc}" was passed to be eng'rossed, he said: 

That would have been the condition if the enemies of this law had carried out 
their plan in the house, but at that time the three leading lobbjdsfs of this opposi- 
tion, all of them ex-State officials, presented themselves and changed the proposed 
tactics, one of them an ex-speaker of the house of representatives and another a 
county attorney of a neighboring county and the third an ex-county attorney of 
Kennebec, lobbied for what? Lobbied to prevent this proposed law from going 
through the senate, and what excuse did they give? What reason did they present 
why it should not be enacted? They did not appear before the committee. They 
did not appear before the members of the house and senate and present their argu- 
ments against this law, but by innuendo, with secret insinuations they approached 
the members of this legislature and, if it were possible, touch a member in a weak 
spot, if they could not reach his prejudices, they did so. And they have worked 
member by member along that line. I went to each of them— no, I did not. I 
want to correct that statement. I went to two of the parties composing that lobby 
to inquire for their objections to the measure. They have been working here for 
two weeks, and they are not charitable men who work for nothing. And the ques- 
tion may well be asked, who has put up this money for their work? Who furnished 
money for that work ? I know it could not have been the State liquor commissioner, 
because in this law we protect every one of his rights. It must have been those men 
who are connected with the local agency and received their reward. Even they 
were not working for charity or the public welfare. Oh, no. They were reaching 
for your vote and working upon your prejudices, if you have any, to defeat this 
measure and save their personal benefits under the present system. 

The measure referred to by Senator Heselton was defeated, even 
after it had been passed by both house and senate to be engrossed, the 
senate voting to refer the matter to the committee on salaries and fees 
and the house refusing to concur in that action. The initiative and 
I'eferendum will check most effectually such practices as referred to by 
Representative McKinnej^ and Senator Heselton. The opportunity to 
secure the passage of needed legislation, in spite of all trickery of poli- 
ticians and lobbyists, will be increased, and the opportunity to slide 
through onto the statute books a mass of legislation of questionable 
wisdom will be correspondingly diminished, for who will deny that 
there was greater popular demand for the defeated legislation advo- 
cated by Representative McKinney and Senator Heselton than was 



STATE KEFEEENDUM LEAGUE OF MAINE. 9 

possessed by many of the 639 acts and 243 resolves which were passed 
by the same legislature and approved by the governor? 

Our State structure, well designed by the forefathers in their wis- 
dom and adequate for their times, now needs some improvement by 
the use of which the people themselves can secure legislation for the 
good of all. A condition favorable to the passage of 882 separate laws, 
of which 455 were private and special, at one session of the legislature, 
while much other legislation of importance was defeated by lobbying 
and political jobbery, shows a dangerous condition of affairs, far more 
menacing than could be contained in or result from the power of the 
people to finally act upon such legislation as seems necessary to a 
minority of 10,000 or 12,000 voters, even with the most liberal exer- 
cise of the power, which would be conferred by the initiative and 
referendum. 

Wherever the initiative and referendum has been adopted the inno- 
vation has grown in popular favor. In Oregon the lobby, previously 
conspicuous and powerful at every session of the State legislature, has 
been eliminated, honest representation has been increased, proposed 
measures have been more carefully studied, and the responsibilit}^ of 
representatives and senators has been restored to its proper position 
in a government of, by, and for the people. Other States are falling 
into line, Oklahoma incorporating the initiative and referendum as a 
part of its original constitution. The people of Ohio will probably 
soon vote upon a similar constitutional amendment as is submitted to 
the voters of Maine. Agitations are working for the same object in 
many other States, and success seems assured. 

Maine needs the initiative and referendum. To give moral effect in 
other States, and as an evidence of the wisdom of the people of Maine, 
the proposed amendment to the constitution, indicated upon the ballot 
in the following words: "Shall the constitution be amended as pro- 
posed by a resolution of the legislature providing for the establish- 
ment of a people's veto through the optional referendum and a direct 
initiative by petition and at general or special elections ? " should be 
adopted by the largest majority ever given any question at the polls 
in the history of this good old State of Maine. 

The will of the people is supreme; let it be vindicated in September < 
State Referendum League of Maine, 
By Kingsbury B. Piper, Secretary. 

O 

S. Doc. 521, 60-1 2 



LIBRARY) OF CONGRESS 



012 050 538 5 O 



